We live in a world that our grandparents probably couldn’t have even imagined. We can communicate all over the world at the speed of light. We can send emails, complete with graphics and sound, to any corner of the earth. With all of this technology, why are international phone calls still such a pain in the neck?

If you have tried to make an international phone call to one of the more remote corners of Europe, you know exactly what I’m talking about. You would think that international telephone calls to Poland, for example, would be a snap. Much of Poland, especially the places where I was calling, is an extremely wired and high-tech place. Since the fall of the Soviet Union, they have more or less caught up with the rest of the world. Although their international Internet access may be world class, international phone calls there are not.

The other day, I bought an international phone card to call one of my friends in Poland. He is there for the summer and I haven’t talked to him in a couple of months. There were a million different ways to make international phone calls. All of the cards had long lists of rates for different countries, so it was difficult to figure out which was the best one. After a few minutes of puzzling over them, I found the best international telephone card. I went home, ready to talk on the phone for a couple of hours.

When I tried to place my international phone call, nothing would work. I have heard that a lot of the cards for making international phone calls are actually made by the local mafias of foreign countries. Although I was skeptical of this rumor before, since I tried making international phone calls I am much more apt to believe it. It was absolutely impossible. The first time I tried, it told me that the number was wrong. The second time I tried, it told me that I had no money left on the card even though I had just purchased it. By the time one of my international phone calls connected, three hours had passed. When I finally did get my friend on the line, it was so grainy that I could barely hear him. Next time, I am going to try international phone calls with voice over IP. Anything that doesn’t run over the Internet is too unreliable to be worth the effort!

With the busy schedules that most of us experience today, we are prone to missing out on events that were once of utmost importance. Family gatherings fall by the wayside, replaced by that important meeting. Graduations of extended families are sometimes difficult to attend, with the scheduling and expense of long distance travel. Worst of all, everyday stories of our loved ones are often never heard, sometimes due only to the cost of long distance calls.

We are living in the age of the Internet, where people can instantly exchange information. This is a time when we can a take a photo one minute and have it on the other side of the world in that same minute. Sharing through email can never fully show the pride and joy of our families and the range of media technology. There is no better way to proudly display ourselves and our families then through personal web sites. With personal web sites, you can display videos, audio files, pictures and journals. Announcements can be made by the click of a mouse and news heard by just hitting enter.

Personal web sites used for family and extended family use should have have the capabilities to retain all forms of media. It’s best if you have a high speed internet connection because this will cut your work and loading time in half. First off, you’ll want to map out the look and feel of your personal web site. Do you want sections for each family member such as “Penelope’s blog, photo album and videos” or do you want broader areas in which the whole family can contribute, like “ Smith family photo album, Smith family blog”?

For basic personal web sites, you should have a section devoted to a journal. Here, you can chronicle family events and milestones. You can talk about your child’s graduation, a new car, a new job, weddings, birthdays and urgent news. This online journal, also known as a blog, is open to your entire family. If you install a comment box, you can even have other visitor’s opinions, congratulations and comments posted alongside your blog entry. This blog can also contain photos of all those events that you cherish.

You might want an entire section devoted to photographs. A photo album section is the perfect addition to personal web sites. With it, your extended family will always feel as though they were there. Photos should always be categorized, such as “summer vacation 2006”, “Sue’s graduation” or “Sarah’s new car”

Video can also be part of personal web sites. With a simple camera phone, you can record and share every event that you previously could only wish the rest of your family could have seen. If done properly, you can accumulate enough videos to create a video diary. For a final word on personal web sites, why not add some audio? A little background music adds a nice touch.